


Numbers

by PotatoJerk



Series: Omega [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Deaf Clint Barton, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Omega Clint, Universe Typical Sexism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 15:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3254261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PotatoJerk/pseuds/PotatoJerk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint's life, while filled with milestones can be narrowed down to five.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Seven

**Author's Note:**

> Clint's First Heat, Age Seven  
> (Originally posted on my Tumblr)

He had been seven, when it happened for the first time.

His insides had twisted up into springs, tiny coils like the curly hair of the little rich girls that would watch him and his tricks, his mind drifting in a sea of hazy sluggish waste.  
He was feverish and shaky, like the junkies his brother told him to stay away from, because  _"you’re so pretty that they might **do**  something to you”_.  
There was crawling under his skin, and it tingled, felt weird, like the way his mentor’s friend touched him—  _good but bad at the same time_.

_(He had been seven, an early bloomer, the first time.)_

They hadn’t taught him what to look out for, what to do when it happened (that was for next year, the earliest that was normal for baseline humans), so he didn’t know what was happening to him— everything was sensitive, and it hurt, like Dad and cigarette burns.

The bearded lady with her sweet perfume smelled like overripe fruit—  _maybe like honeydew, back when Momma still bought them._  
Her friend, the fortune teller, smelled deep and sharp, and he was so confused, because it ached.

 _(He wasn’t sure what_ **it** _was, but it hurt, and he cried.)_

His mentor told him that he was becoming an adult, and that it wouldn’t go away—  _that it would always happen, **forever**_  —but that it would stop hurting, when he was grown.  
His mentor also said that he would feel better with some medication, and maybe something to help with his fever, if he would be okay with that.

It hurt so bad that he didn’t even complain about the medication that made his head spin even worse than before, and not about the water trough full of icy water and chips of actual ice to drag his fever down (he had no idea where his mentor got that much ice, especially when they live in a circus).

_(It did stop hurting, though, and, for that, he was grateful.)_

After, he learned what was going on.  **It**  was heat, and he was an Omega. He had to  _"be careful, now; people will want to take advantage of you"_ , and _"stay close to your brother; if you get lost, someone might snatch you off the street"_ , because  _"pretty little omega like you? This world would eat you up in a second"_.

Buck meant well, but that advice never did help him much.


	2. Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint was 15 when Barney left

He was fifteen when his brother left.

He learned, between his very first heat and when his brother left, that his brother was crooked— a liar, a cheat, a thief.

_(But Barney was still his brother, so he didn’t call Barney out on it; that was a mistake.)_

His mentor, Buck, was crooked, too, but, at least Buck cared about him— protected him, when Barney had too much to drink, started acting like Dad used to.

_(Trusting Buck was halfway justified; he could still work— you need both legs for Fencing, just need your arms for Archery.)_

His mentor’s friend, Jacques (with his low voice, the gross sickly feeling that always followed him around), was probably more crooked than Barney was.

Basically bought his help from Buck (won it in a hand of poker; Buck was out of money), and used him to take out guards, cops, while he robbed banks, liquor stores, rich people’s houses.

_(It left a bad taste in his mouth.)_

He wasn’t crooked, but his brother was, his mentor’s friend was, his mentor halfway was— Buck still had morals, though. Still had honor.

His brother and his mentor’s friend were going to rob the circus—  _to ruin the **only**  good thing he or his brother had ever been a part of_ —so, he stopped.

He told Buck, Buck told the Ringmaster (Mr. Casey), and, that night, Jacques found him, beat him, broke his legs.

_(Said, “that’s what you get for disloyalty”.)_

Buck took him to the hospital (the first of  ** _many_** ), Barney visited him, and—  
 _(“You deserved what happened to you. If you’d’ve just **went with it** , we coulda got rich, you  **idiot**.”)_

When things calmed down a bit, after he got out of the hospital, Barney said… Barney said he was leaving, offered a chance to go with.

He said no. He said no, told his brother that he was staying.  
 _“You’re family, but I don’t wanna go.”_

Barney was quiet for a long while, then said,  _“I’ll be at the bus station if you change your mind.”_

_(He did change his mind. He changed his mind, but it was too late; Barney was gone.)_

Clint was left alone.


End file.
